Chinese-savvy subscribers of the German-language Max Planck Research got a unexpected treat when the magazine featured a cover punting "hot, young housewives" in an ad for a Hong Kong strip club.
The publication apparently believed the text "depicted classical Chinese characters in a non-controversial context" but, as Oz's The …

Max Planck Institute Desperate for attention

Stylish and good mannered beauties from the North

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I for one salute "Unsere Prostituierte auf der Grundlage Oberherren"

Reminds me of the person who had a selection of chinese characters tattoed to him under the assurance it meant "Much prosperity and happiness" and actually the roughly translated meaning was "I play with wrinkly old knobs"

Illustrated ... devices?

More Bizzarre

They used the symbols to illustarte their focus on China, yet the Sinologist didn't even point out that the writing was from Hong Kong (where I believe they use the ancient chinese language), as opposed to mainland China where the official dialect is Mandarin.

Anyway, anyone who's been to Hong Kong will be well aware that the "hot, young housewives" are from Mongolia.

N/t

Mong Kok????

I thought Mong Kok was a lovely little market district, all pirate cd's and such. I definately remember going to the Wan Chai district to see the lovely ladies at Suzi Wongs at the ripe old age of 16(being 6ft plus always fooled them into thinking you were older.) Oh the happy happy days!!!

Chinese Tattoo amusements

One guy who used to work for me proudly showed me his chinese tattoo. I asked what it said, and he said it spelt out his name. B - E - N. Oh no, I smiled, it doesn't work that way.

So, my wife (who is chinese) was called in to translate. And she immediately burst into laughter and refused to say what it meant. After much coaxing she finally admitted it was chinese slang for a prostitute (something to do with a chicken, I seem to recall).

So, don't get chinese tattoos from people you do not know and trust :)

A Forerunner

Puts me in mind of Journal of Statistical Physics volume 48, numbers 3, 1987, pages 709-726, "Diffusion in a periodic Lorentz gas", by Bill Moran, William G. Hoover and Stronzo Bestiale. "Stronzo Bestiale" is an Italian vulgarity, translating literally to "Bestial Turd", although the meaning is closer to "Appalling Turd". Doctor Bestiale's affiliation was allegedly a non-existent research institute in Palermo, Sicily.

Apparently he was added as a joke by the other two authors, and nobody noticed until the JSP issue hit the academic bookshelves in Italy a few months later. Then all hell broke loose. Like pee in a pool, you can't take something like this out after you put it in, and Google Scholar searches for "Stronzo Bestiale" still bring up plentiful citations --- apparently the paper was of some non-negligible importance, authorship notwithstanding.

Reminds me

of the story of the woman who was going to an embassy function and wanted some Chinese characters worked into her gown to impress the visiting Chinese ambassador - so she copied some from the front of a Chinese restaurant and sewed them on. When the ambassador saw her, he laughed and when asked what the characters said, told her, "It say 'Cheap but delicious'!"